Donated pennies from charitable tradesmen help scientists discover new blood test to guide prostate cancer treatment

With online customers of Screwfix clicking the ‘Donate’ button well over 150,000 times since Spring 2012, an impressive amount of money has been donated to their charity partner, the Everyman appeal. In fact, a total of £31,000 has been raised so far, all from donations less than £1.

This money is helping to fund vital research into prostate cancer being carried out at The Institute of Cancer Research, including recent work to develop a new blood test that predicts the aggressiveness of prostate cancers.

The test works by reading genetic changes like a barcode and identifying telltale signs of more threatening or advanced cancers. This means that patients most at risk from their cancers can be identified by measuring which genes are switched ‘on’ or ‘off’ in the patient’s blood.

Doctors could use this information to predict how the cancer will behave and to decide which course of action is appropriate. Scientists hope the test will prove more detailed and accurate than the current standard PSA blood test, and less unpleasant for patients than a tissue biopsy.

Professor Johann de Bono, who led the research, said: “Prostate cancer is a very diverse disease – some people live with it for years without symptoms but for others it can be aggressive and life-threatening – so it’s vital we develop reliable tests to tell the different types apart.”

Every penny donated by charitable tradesmen rounding up their orders online helps researchers discover more important information about cancers. The £5,000 it costs for the Institute to purchases a -80oc freezer, vital for storing blood and tumour samples, can be raised from less than two months of donations through Screwfix.

With Pennies being such an affordable and easy way for people to donate to a worthy cause, we’re looking forward to seeing customer donations continue to flood in through Screwfix and help advance prostate cancer research even more.